I know we can use any box for bento, and that's what I've been doing the few I have done, but with school starting I know my sont will toss it in a backpack and everything will shift so I'm looking for stackables. All I am finding is either in the 20 dollar range and/or necessitates me paying even more for imported shipping. I like the idea of the narrow ones, but I'm searching hopelessly for stores that even sell bento supplies around here.

I'd also like to get a few of the cuter items. More colorful silicone cups (I only have six so I normally use paper cups unless it's watery for now), smaller ones than I have, a couple egg molds for the egg lovers in the house, and veggie cutters to convince the kids to try the veggies (they seem to think they are evil), also the tiny sauce bottles would be nice. I'd like to get it all from the same place if at all possible instead of using different vendors like I would on ebay and yet if I import now it may not be here in time for the start of the new school year.

Oh. I'm a cheapskate by necessity too.

I probably am asking too much. Heck I may just put this out here, Harriburg/Reading PA area is where I live. Anyone have ideas of stores that sell bento goods around there?

Don't live near you but I have success buying bento cute boxes from Paper Chase an English company which imports through Border Books to their bookstores. The boxes are about $8.99. Some stack, some are a series that fit inside each other, others are divided single layer. Since I can buy them at the bookstore, no shipping. I really like www.fitjpstore.com located in Houston Texas. They fill orders very quickly, most boxes are $3.00. They come in every style and have lots of cute accessories for $2.00 each. It is worth a peak. Good luck.

Welcome to the JB forums BPGuru! It's not local to you, but Japanistic does have a number of cute bento boxes and so on which are quite inexpensive and kid-friendly, and they only charge $2.95 for shipping. Take a look around on Amazon also, especially for small supplies. You don't actually need everything by the way - for instance I rarely use sauce bottles myself. Also keep your eye out for things you can use in bentos that are meant for something else, such as silicone cupcake cups (my favorite ones are pastel colored ones I got at Target I think), or tiny cookie cutters or what are called aspic cutters, and so on. Have fun! ^_^

Thanks for the ideas and I will check out those links. My son is drooling over a Disney cars bento box right now and the daughter wants one that is near 30 dollars. I told her no lol. I do have silicone cupcake cups just 6 though. I also have some real small cookie cutters but they are still too big for some of the smaller veggies like carrots. The poor lid has to pack due to food allergies so I thought the cuter the bento the happier he will be a about being different than the other kids. Off to check the links now. Thanks again

I took a look at their site, and they have some hilarious mistakes in the Japanese version of their navigation menu. I guess that means that it's not actually run by Japanese people (unless they've never actually looked at their own site, which would be unlikely), so it's interesting to see the concept of the 100 yen store being operated by non-Japanese people in America. (As far as I know the other ones in California and the like are run by Japanese-origin people mostly, e.g. Ichibankan in San Francisco.)

I have to say that I am personally a bit biased against 100 yen store bento boxes (for accessories they are fine) - in or out of Japan - they're not that good quality really - but that's just me. See my comments in Where to buy bento boxes and accessories in Japan.

So I was at te Disney store buying school clothes and stumbled on GOODS! I almost bought them all but refrained since they were child size. They were 3 for 12.00. I'm stoked and they were cute. LOL I wonder if I can upload pics. Off to see.

Thanks admin. It's still not working, but I posted from my phone so maybe that's why. Let me try it again from this computer. They aren't big, just Disney and cute and perfect for a 2 year old tummy and paired with an apple or bannana in a lunch box perfect for the soon to be 7 year old. Now to find a perty one for mamma.
Let's try the html link and see what that does. I took the pic with my phone in the car before I got them home, I was too excited to wait. :)

For the silicone cups, you can get a set (usually 12) of silicone cupcake liners, they come in different colors. I got mine from Hobby Lobby, with a 40% off coupon. Michaels would have the same thing (the big craft stores often have coupons with their sales ads that you can print online) I also got little tiny cutters (for fondant I think) in the cake decorating section. (used another coupon for those) My mom found little tiny containers at a Tupperware party. I found little containers with screw top lids for pills at a grocery store, just the right size for sauce. They're plain, but you can add a little decoration with stickers or puff paint on the lid. I also found those little plastic fake ice cubes on clearance on Pier One. They have the freezable gel in them, and you can refreeze them. Those are nice to put next to meat/egg or whatever you want to be sure stays cold.